St. Charles North football tops Larkin, improves to .500

ELGIN – The St. Charles North football team remained in the hunt for a playoff spot by beating Larkin, 48-20, Friday night at Memorial Field.

The North Stars, now 4-4 overall, will need to win next Saturday at South Elgin and hope its murky playoff points situation takes a turn for the better to make the postseason for the first time since 2009.

At first, it didn’t look like it would be an easy win for the North Stars in the Upstate Eight Conference River game. Larkin’s Damion Clemons ran 86 yards for a touchdown on the team’s opening play from scrimmage.

But North (4-4, 3-3) scored three touchdowns in the first quarter on two runs by Evan Kurtz sandwiched between one by Dom Sidari.

Three extra points by North kicker Kat Stutesman put the North Stars up 21-7 at the end of the first frame. Her second kick of the quarter set a new North Star career PAT record of 36. The senior connected on two more kicks during the night to raise her total to 38.

The teams traded scores in the second quarter, with North’s coming on a 47-yard pass from quarterback Erik Miller to tight end Garrett Johnson. Larkin (3-5, 2-3) countered with a 2 yard keeper by quarterback Kemmerin Blalark.

The momentum of the game finally swung in the North Stars’ favor at the end of the second quarter when North stopped a Larkin 76-yard drive on the 2-yard line. The stop kept the score at the half at 27-14 North.

“We had our backs against the wall at the half and they came up with a big, goal line stand,” said North coach Rob Pomazak, whose team bounced back from a lopsided loss last week to Batavia. “Those are the little things we need to do to win games and hopefully get to the next level.”

North widened its lead to 35-14 in the third quarter on Kurtz’s third touchdown of the night.

Reece Conroyd scored the team’s sixth touchdown on the opening drive of the four quarter on a 1-yard run.